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Surely you've heard of U2, which means I don't need to tell you who they are. If you don't, there's this thing called Google. Give it a shot.

Anyway, this band U2 is playing tonight and Saturday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and lots of yuppies who go to one concert every four years are very excited. So excited, in fact, that they've been in line for a long frickin' time. People such as myself, aka people who like good music, aren't going to see U2.

And because I'm a nice guy, I'm here to offer some tips on things to do instead of wasting hundreds of dollars on tickets (and overpriced beers and parking) and time trying to see a group that, let's face it, sucks.
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​Just one day before a newly reunited Sublime is scheduled to play its first announced reunion gig at the Cypress Hill Smoke Out Festival, the estate of late singer Bradley Nowell has issued a statement explaining their position on the matter.

Basically, they ain't happy. Nowell's wife Troy, son Jakob and father Jim explain that they are very supportive of bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh performing Sublime music, but not under the Sublime name. And with Nowell gone and new singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez in the mix, you can see how calling the new act Sublime might cause a problem.  Furthermore, they plan to take legal action to "protect Brad's legacy."

In case you've been living under a rock for the past 15 years, Sublime was a Long Beach ska/punk/reggae/dub trio on the verge of becoming one of the most popular bands in recent memory until Nowell passed away on tour due to a heroin overdose. Immediately following his death, Wilson and Gaugh formed the Long Beach Dub All Stars with members of the extended Sublime family to carry on the Sublime legacy by playing the hits and writing new material. LBDAS broke up in 2002.

Keep reading for the estate's statement.
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Funnyman Artie Lange was once again on another unscheduled vacation this past week from his day job at the Howard Stern Show. The comedian missed all three shows last week (the gang doesn't work Fridays and last Monday was Columbus Day) and yesterday's show, but did return today.

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Just got this email regarding two-for-one tickets on sale only today. Here's the info I was sent.

HALF PRICE TICKETS; Get 2 for the Price of 1 -- Tomorrow!

-- Starting at 12:01 midnight on Wednesday, July 22 for 24 hours:

-- A pair of lawn tickets to participating Live Nation amphitheater shows is available for half-off

-- Available for the following area shows through LiveNation.com:

            The Fray (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)- July 29

            Crue Fest 2 (San Manuel Amphitheater)- July 31

            Journey (San Manuel Amphitheater)-- August 1

            Rock The Bells 09 (San Manuel Amphitheater)-- August 8

            Toby Keith (San Manuel Amphitheater)-- August 15

            Def Leppard w/special guests Poison & Cheap Trick (VWA--Aug 30; San Manuel Amph--Sep 6)

            Nickelback (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)-- September 3

            Creed (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)-- September 30

PS What's Cheap Trick doing opening for Poison and Def Leppard?

I never made the trek to New York's CBGB, the birthplace of punk rock. But thanks to the Intranets, I can now feel like I'm in a dingy NY club when I'm really typing in a Long Beach apartment.

Click this link for a CBGB virtual tour. I suggest doing what I did: Pump the Ramones, spill some beer on your jeans, drop stinkbombs and make out with a strange girl. It's the next best thing to being there.

I got an email a while ago from singer/songwriter Jeff Caudill. Unfortunately, I'm just getting around to posting it now.

If you didn't know, Caudill was the singer for OC pop/punk/emo group Gameface. He's been a solo artist for a while now and, dare I say, hasn't lost a step. When he's not fronting Jeff Caudill & the Goodtimes Band, he's part of a cross-Atlantic project called Floormodel and a new band I know nothing about called Black Rattle. But if he's in  it, I'm sure it's good.

Here are some highlights of his email for those who are interested.

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Ok, not really. But he is a musician and he's playing Saturday.

His name is Darrin Thaves and he's a flutist. Let me go on record right now as saying this: If you have to live within earshot of a professional musician who not only practices all day, but gives lessons in their spare time, make it a flute player. Seriously, it's like heaven above, which is ironic because he lives upstairs.

My girlfriend (sorry ladies) and I often talk about how screwed we'd be if we shared walls with  John Bonham or Slash, but the flute's another ballgame. Every blue moon Thaves asks if his playing bothers us and trust me, if it did, we'd tell him. But it doesn't. It's actually really nice and I tend to miss it when he's out of town.

So anyway, according to his bio, Thaves "has held the position of Principal Flute with the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Pacific Chamber Soloists, as well as the position of Second Flute in the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a featured soloist with both the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Tacoma Youth Symphony. He is the Co-Director and Founder of the NW Flute Collegium, and serves as a flute coach for the Evergreen Music Festival. He has also served as director of the Pacific Flute Ensemble and as Flute Specialist for the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association." He also serves on the applied flute faculty at Cal State Long Beach, whatever that means.

Saturday's show includes works by Bohuslav Martinu, Paul Schoenfield and Paul Taffanel. I'll be there and so should you. If anyone reading this decides to attend, come say hi. I'll be the guy who looks like he shouldn't be at a flute gig.

Come to think of it, Thaves isn't the only pro I've lived next to. Years ago I shared a bedroom wall with Reel Big Fish's Scott Klopfenstein (when he wasn't on tour, which was like four days a year), but Thaves is pretty damn talented in his own right and worthy of some attention.

The performance is at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB. 8 p.m. $10.

So last night I finally made it to this place called Casa Diablo. It's a strip club with an all-vegan menu and the dancers are not allowed to wear animal products. As a single vegan male alone in a city with nothing to do (and no restaurants open at 10 p.m.), I had to go.

I get in and notice a heavily-tattooed girl dancing to two dirty old men. Not unlike home, I told myself. But dancer after dancer hit the stage and the tattoo quotient kept rising and the music improved.

Unlike other places at home, there was no lame dance tunes or semi-ironic Motley Crue. One girl even shook her moneymaker to Elvis Costello's "Party Girl" before getting wild to a Cursive song whose name eludes me at the moment.

One of the dancers saw me by my loneself and chatted me up. She told me the old man deejay let the girls play their iPods, which led me to believe the girls at Casa Diablo have the best taste in music of any tittie bar in the country. Or at least of the tittie bars I've been to, which I admit, is not that many.

 

Huntington Beach's Matt Costa will be performing live on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" today at 11:15 a.m.

Tune in to 89.9 FM, or if you're stuck at work, you can listen online at kcrw.com. For iTunes users—aren't we all?—there's a link embedded in the "Radio" section of iTunes.

Costa will also be playing a couple of sorta-hometown shows this weekend: Saturday at the El Rey and Sunday at the Glass House. Saturday's long sold-out but head over to Pomona to get your fix before Costa and co. embark on a mini-tour of the U.S. with the Delta Spirit.

Many moons ago, I wrote mucho music reviews for the Weekly. The one I still get e-mail about years later was my 2002 take on why Latinos love Morrissey so much. I included the essay in my recent ¡Ask a Mexican! book, meaning people now know why you can reduce many cholos to quivering pussies by blasting "This Charming Man" or "The Headmaster Ritual."

One of the fans I interviewed for the piece was Patricia Godinez, a lecturer with the English department at Cal State Fullerton. Today, Godinez e-mailed me to reveal that she was interviewed by Kobra, a culture show in Sweden, about her Latin love for Morrissey after reading the Weekly's article. Watch the clip here (Godinez is the lovely lady interviewed about a minute into the clip), and skoal!